Hypnosis Vs Hypnotic Phenomena

Sam is a local student of Chicago who was under the impression that he was THE Superman.

Reason being: Hypnotic Phenomena

***Let’s Review***

Last week we explained that hypnosis is a state of mental and physical relaxation that can be achieved in 4 simple steps (to review last week’s lesson, click the “Previous” button below).

After a basic state of hypnosis is achieved, the hypnotized person is more likely to be able to tap into their creative mind and embrace a fun experience. In this case, Sam was very easy to hypnotize and thus, I made him think he was Superman (look at his face, he oozes confidence haha).

I was creeping around YouTube this past week looking through some old clips of my friend/colleague Chris Jones and found a number of people calling his work “fake”. Many saying they didn’t “believe” in what they were seeing and so on.

This prompted me to create this week’s blog to better elaborate the difference between what people THINK they are seeing versus what they are ACTUALLY seeing. I also write this keeping in mind that those who confuse “phenomena” for “hypnosis” have likely never actually studied hypnosis. Sometimes I say they’ve never studied psychology but I’ve learned many of those professors don’t always know the difference either.

***Hypnotic Phenomena Breakdown***

So, for those who aren’t subscribed to my YouTube channel (which you can do by Clicking Here), let me break this week’s video down…

Point #1) In the beginning of the clip, I tell everyone on the yacht I previously hypnotized Sam (oh yeah, did I mention this was on a Chicago yacht? It was friggin’ awesome!). This is so everyone was on the same page as to why Sam was so easily hypnotized for the big show.

Point #2) I proceed to hypnotize Sam again for a bigger audience than earlier (feel free to note that when you hypnotize a person more than once, it’s then considered a “re-induction”). Since Sam was previously hypnotized and understood to completely relax his mind and body, his head drops as soon as I snap my fingers (making the lady in the blue dress drop her jaw – love those reactions).

Point #3) Now that we know Sam is easily hypnotized and we have successfully re-induced him, it’s time to take this hypnosis thing a step further: Hypnotic Commands. I tell Sam that he will become Superman and upon waking up, will immediately strike his best Superman pose.

Point #4) Unless you skipped right to this part of the blog without looking at the top half, you’ve seen Sam’s results with the Superman command: Successful!

Thus, when someone who is easily hypnotized immediately reacts to the commands you give them under hypnosis, that is called Hypnotic Phenomena (not hypnosis 😉 )

***Possibilities of Phenomena***

Some cool routines I & other comedy Hypnotists demonstrated with Hypnotic Phenomena…

A big question most new advanced students ask me is, “What if they don’t respond to the command?”

In my mind this is a good thing because while it would be interesting to see a bunch of people do their own pose for Superman, it’s more interesting if the person knows another superhero better and chooses to pose as them instead. Variety creates visually appealing comedy material making the show spontaneously humorous for the audience.

It’s actually due to the fact that not everyone that reacts the same that people assume they “can’t be hypnotized” or that “it’s fake”. If they give the hypnotist a chance to use a different technique (or maybe the person requires a different hypnotist overall), they will eventually experience the awesomeness that is Hypnotic Phenomena. After all, just like dating, simply because one relationship didn’t work for you, doesn’t mean another won’t work better!

***CONCLUSION***

I always love how my mentor Anthony Jacquin says, “The induction is the sexiest part.” Reason being it looks dramatic to the audience. Depending on how it’s executed, there’s often gasps or laughter when audience members see their family/friends theatrically “drop” into hypnosis. Watch Sam’s body language as I hypnotize in this week’s video demonstration…